Cartridge-shell loader



(No Model.)

J. T. BAIRD. CARTRIDGE SHELL LOADER.

2 sheets-sheen 1.

Patented May 12,118.85.

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2 Sheets-Sheet v2.

(No Model.)

J. T. BA1RD. v CARTRIDGE SEELL LOADER.

Patented May 12, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. BAIRD, OF OLNEY, ILLINOIS.

CARTRIDGE-SHELL LOADER.

S-PBCIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 317,484, dated May 12, 1885.v

Application filed August 13, 1884. (No model.)

.T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN T. BAIRD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Olney, in the county of Richland and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improve ments in Cartridge-Shell Loaders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. My invention relates to devices for loading cartridge-shells; and it has for its object the provision of a convenient and efficient loader for sportsmans and other uses adapted to be carried along upon expeditions, and aifording means for containing a sufficient amount of' powder and shot to furnish a great many loads. It also has a device for capping the shells; but the main features of this I have already made the subject-matter of an application for patent tiled May 8, 1884, Serial No. 130,769. The capper forms an essential portion of the apparatus, and I have shown it in the present application, as well as in the one just alluded to, where it is claimed.

In my loader there is a receptacle provided for powder and another for shot, each vertically adjustable independently of the other and adapted to be operated successively. Each receptacle is provided with a hole in the fiat portion of the bottom, a cut-offl slide lying directly above said flat portion, and a feedslide workj ing directly beneath said flat portion. The

feed or loading slide is provided with an opening, and a short tube extending down from it, which its into and telescopes with a similar tube on the shifting slide beneath. This shifting slide is provided with two short tubes, one

engaging with the feed-tube of each receptacle, and has a thumb piece or pieces extending out beside the apparatus, by mea-ns of which it may be shipped so as to bring one or the other of its open tubes over the central feed-spout, which delivers or guides the ammunition into the shell. The receptacles are capable Yof vertical adjustment, so as to make the tubes on the loading and shifting slides telescope more or less, and thus vary their containing capacity and change the size of the load. Adjustingscrews are placedunder the receptacles to accomplish this adjustment.

On the frame of the apparatus, between the two receptacles, are placed one or `two wadtubes and a rammer. rlhe wad-tubes are on the sides and the rammer in the center. A slide working at right angles to the ammunitionslides, with openings of a size to receive the wad, plays back and forth under the wadtubes and deposits a wad at each movement. This slide is thin through the main portion of its body, and has ledges or ribs along each side so as to form high edges, and a depressed center covering almost its entire body. Upon the side of each wad-tube, facing each other, are provided adjustable wad-feed-regulating plates, which are equipped at the top with a screw and thumb-nut to accomplish this adjustment, and extend down at the bot tom so as to afford a means for preventing the passage of more than one wad at a time, and of preventing wads of different thicknesses to be used with certainty that only one shall pass at a time.

The accompanying drawings illustrate what I consider the best means for carrying my invention into practice.

Figure l is a central vertical longitudinal section of the device. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the upper portion, taken at right angles to Fig. l, with certain parts removed. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lower portion of the device, showing the wad-tubes in section. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan of one of the receptacles.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they occur.

A designates the cast-iron frame-work of the machine, different portions being lettered A A2, Ste., as required, to more definitelypoint out the construction hereinafter. This frame work may be made of' sections easy to cast, and united by bolts, and nuts a a, 85e., as shown. The greater part of it is open, and light, as shown, but one end is provided. with double walls A* Ait and an inclined plate, Ati, which forms a cap-box, and has just sufficient space between the two walls to receive a cap latwise, and guide it down the inclined plate A*it to the capping-opening, without allowing it to `become displaced.

I employ in this apparatus a gravity cutoff IOO ' center.

portion of the cap-boX or capping mechanismy in this application, as it is claimed in my previous application, No. 130,769.

Across the bottom portion-of the frame is run a cross bar or rail, A', in the midlength of l which a screw-threaded opening, a,.is provided. In this opening works a screw-threaded extension, b, of the shell-rest B, upon which the shell sits when being loaded. This shellrest is open on one side, and is provided with a wallon the other. A central opening extending through the base of the rest and through its threaded extension b 'provides against battering the edges of the cap cavity in the end of the shell, and also against explo'din g a capped shell while it is being loaded. The screw-threads aord a means for adjusting the rest up or down to accommodate shells of different length.

-The upper horizontal portion of the frame A is provided with a longitudinal way, A2, in which the shifting slide works. Midlength of the way a hole or opening, a2, is provided, which forms the mouth of the feed-spout A3. This feed-spout A3 is formed upon a boxing, a3, which covers the wad-slide. The spout is made somewhat in the shape of an hour-glass, flared at bottom andv top, but smaller in the This permits the easy placement and release of the shell, and also insures that it shall, as it is forced up, fit snugly to the sides of the spout, and the still smaller diameter 4above the top of the shell insures the proper guidance of the ammunition into the shell, and provides against the waste of any of it. The bottom of the feed-spout is cut off' at an inclination (or one side maybe cut away) to further aid in placing the shell.

The central side uprights, A, of theframe are secured upon the upper horizontal portion of the frame by means of screws or rivets, and. have their ed ges turned over or formed with a bead, as shown at a4, to serve as guides for the ammunitionreceptacles C C. The receptacles have angle-pieces c2 c2, which take over the guides a4, and aiford a means for accurately guiding the receptacles as they are movedup or down. The adjustment of the receptacles is accomplished by having thumbscrews D let through a portion of the frame beneath the receptacles and coming in contact with the bottom of the receptacles, by means of which they may be made to occupy a higher or lower position upon the guides. The bottoms of the receptacles are sloped or hoppered, as `shown at c3 c3, to properly feed the ammunition down to the exit-opening. The bottoms of the receptacles are provided with ways c4, in which the feed-slides ci work, and above the bottom, in suitable ways, the cut-oft' slides c"`.work. The feed-slides c5 are provided with short open tubes c* 0*, which project downward therefrom and register with holes or openings in the feed-slides.

The shifting slide E, which works in the longitudinal way A2, is provided with two 7o short open tubes, e* e*,into which the tubes i c* c* project, and with which they telescope. Thumb-pieces e e project out laterally from the slide E, and afford a means for shipping it from'one side to the other. l When the now 'connected shipping and 1oad ingslides are moved in one direction, so as to bring a pair ofthe telescoping tubes c* e* under the exit-openin g of the ammunition-receptacle, the said tubes will, if the cut-oitl slide be with drawn, receive a charge of one sort of ammunition, and when pushed back to bring the other pair of telescopin g tubes under the opposite receptacle will bring .the lled tubes over the discharge-opening a2, and their charge will fall down through the loadingspout A3- into the shell.

The size ofthe load may be regulated by closing the telescoping tubes c* e* moreor less, which is accomplished by raising or lowering the receptacles c c/ by means of the screws D.

Just inside of the upright portions of the frame (marked A4) are located the wad-tubesA F F, which are held at the bottom in the upper horizontal portion of the frame, and at the top in a crosshead or piece, A6, which rests upon and is secured to the uprights A4.

On the two sides of the tubes F F which face each other are provided the adjustable wadfeed-regulating plates G G, which are equipped their tops, by means of which the feed-plates are moved up or down.

Beneath the wad-tubes the wad-slide H, heldy in the boxing a3, may be moved back and forth at right angles to the movement of the feed and shifting slides. This wad-slide is made with a comparatively thin body and turned-up edges h, thus leaving a central depression of nearly the width of the slide. The feed-plates G G project into this more or less, according to the adj ustment from above, which depends up on the thickness of the wad. Thus, if a thin wad is being used, the plates G G are forced down until they almost-touch the top ofthe depressed portion of the slide, and thus insure that onlyone wadshall be moved away from the wad tubes at a time. 1f a thicker wad is being used, the plates are proportionately elevated to allow the passage of one wad at a time. The openings h in the thin body of the slide are of suflicient depth to take hold of the lower edge of the wad and .carry it forward, no matter what its thickness may be.

It may be desirable to use one thick and one thin wad in a load, and this arrangement of parts provides for doing this, as the two wadtubes and the two adjustable feed-regulating plates are entirely independent of each other, and one of said plates may beadjusted to allow the passage of a thick wad, while the other one will only allow a thin wad to pass.

IOO with screw-bolts g g and thumb-nuts g g at the openings h in the slide, when these parts register, are drawn, when the slide is properly moved, over the feed-spout and dropped into the shell beneath.

When the wad has been dropped overthe ammunition deposited in the shell, as already explained, the remmer I is brought into requisition. This remmer I is nheld in the remmerguide J, which is placed between and secured to the wad tubes, directly over the opening e2 and the loading-spout A3. It is surrounded by a spring, fi, which is secured to or rests in the guide J at one end and bears under the heed I et the other, and by its expensive force tends to withdrew the remmer as soon as the force or weight employed in depressing it is removed.

Now, when the parts o* e* and the opening h in slide lzl are brought over the loadingspout to deliver the ammunition andthe wad therethrough into the shell, there will be an open passage for the remmer into the shell, and the load may be properly rammed by depressing the remmer I. As before stated, the contents of the shell may be rammed after the deposit of the powder (this, if done at all, is usually light) and after the deposit of the shot, too, or only after the deposit of the shot, a wad being invariablyv dropped before the ramming takes place.

If allowed liberty,v the spring t' will keep the rod I always thrown up, and to prevent this (as it would be in the wey when the apparatus is packed) I provide a hinged stop, k, pivoted or hinged to the cross-piece Afj and adapted to be turned in till one edge comes over one of the coils of the spring, so that when the spring is compressed by the depression of the remmer and the stop is then engaged with the spring, the remmer will be held down out of the way.

A handle, L, pivoted to the uprights A4 by the same screws or rivets which festen the cross-piece A6, is provided for convenience in handling the device.

Having thus described my invention, what Idesire to claim, and secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. The combination of the independentlyadjustable receptacles, as C C', each provided with a slide attached to and adapted to lbe moved under it, each of the slides heving a short open tube, with a shifting slide having two short open tubes telescoping with the tubes on the slides under the receptacles, whereby the load from each receptacle may be regulated independently of the other, as set forth.

2. The combination of the independentlyadjustable ammunition-receptacles and loading and shifting slides therefor, and wad-tubes,

with independent adjusting devices on each,

and a wad-slide whereby both the size of the load from each receptacle and the passage of a wad of any thickness from each tube is regulated and insured, as set forth.

3. In a shell-loader, the combination, with the independently-adjustable ammunition, recepteclcs and slides with telescoping tubes for loading the ammunition in adjustable charges, of e pair of wad-tubes each provided with e regulatingplate, G, on the facing sides thereof, said plates having the screws g and adjustingnuts g at the top thereof, and a wad-slide having two openings for the reception of wads, and raised edges h, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

lJOHINT T. BAIRD. fitnessesz JOHN M. WILSON, LoUIs C. STARKEL. 

